OUR LIST OF 2012’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 7

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2012  3 Responses »
Jan 032013
 

This is Part 7 of our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs. Each day until the list is finished, I’m posting two songs that made the cut. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. To see the selections that preceded the two we’re announcing today, click here.

When I started the rollout of this list, I explained that I had expanded the range of my metal listening during 2012. I even opened my mind to more music in the stoner/doom vein despite (gasp!) the presence of clean vocals, because there’s so much meat on those riff bones, and I do love a pulverizing riff.

Genre boundaries blur, and I don’t think either of the bands whose songs I’m adding to our list today clearly fit into that stoner/doom category, though there’s some kinship.  Their classic riffs bring the beef in truckloads and their vocals are (sort of) clean. In fact, ironically, for me the vocals have been a main draw for both of these bands.

VENOMOUS MAXIMUS

Houston-based Venomous Maximus are yet another band with a superb 2012 album that we never got around to reviewing. I feel especially guilty about that, given how many aural orgasms Beg Upon the Light has given me. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DEATH, BEYOND CREATION, WELICORUSS, AND BEASTWARS

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Nov 152012
 

In this post are four new things I saw and heard today.  I saw and heard other things today, such as the sight of the Sun (which is worth reporting, given that it’s November in Seattle) and the explosive sound of my own voice when I put weight on my fucked-up ankle the wrong way. That was about as close as I’ve ever come to thinking I could do vocals for a black metal band.

Well, as painful as it is for me to say this, “enough about me”. Here are new videos from Beyond Creation (Canada), Welicoruss (Russia), and Beastwars (New Zealand). The Welicoruss and Beastwars songs are also brand new and will appear on forthcoming albums. But first . . . the debut of a remastered song from . . .

DEATH

As you may know, Relapse Records has been re-issuing remastered editions of albums by Death. The latest is the band’s 1990 record, Spiritual Healing. This is a two-disc release, with the first one featuring a complete remaster of the original album and the second one including 16 previously unreleased rehearsal recordings, outtakes, and studio instrumentals. If you spring for the limited edition digipack, you’ll also get a third CD of a never-before-released live set recorded in 1990. And if you download the album from iTunes, you’ll get 5 previously unreleased pre-Human rehearsal tracks that aren’t included on either of the CD versions.

Well, enough with the free advertising. The reason I’m writing about Death today is that today Guitar World premiered one of the remastered tracks from Spiritual Healing: “Altering the Future”. You can hear that after the jump, along with the remastered version of “Living Monstrosity”, which appeared earlier. Continue reading »

CLEAN SINGING (THAT RAWKS): NEW VIDEOS FROM MAMMOTH MAMMOTH, BEASTWARS, AND THE SORROW

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Oct 262012
 

I’m drowning in new videos. Beginning late yesterday, this is the third in a row of posts I’ve written for the site that consist of nothing but videos. But as much as I’d like to finish other things I’m working on, I continue to be distracted by the moving pictures and the quality sounds.

This post is full of Exceptions to the Rule around here, because all three of the new vidz collected in this post include (to varying extents) clean vocals. But all three songs have grabbed me, and I hope they’ll grab you, too. The first two are from down-under bands we’ve previously covered at NCS — Mammoth Mammoth (Australia) and Beastwars (New Zealand) — and the third is from a band I don’t think we’ve ever mentioned before, The Sorrow (Austria).

MAMMOTH MAMMOTH

I first came across Mammoth Mammoth back in May when they released their last video, which was for the title track to their third album Hell’s Likely (featured here). Since then, Napalm Records have picked up the album and will be releasing it on November 23 worldwide (order here).

I’m enjoying the album cover. I’m also enjoying the new video for “GO”, which includes a nice tip of the hat at the video’s beginning to Gojira’s “Vacuity” video and also features the same delectable woman who graces the album cover in her birthday suit (though she’s somewhat more clothed in the video). Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VASTUM, AMBASSADOR GUN, HAM AND SKÁLMÖLD, AND FULL ALBUM STREAMS FROM WINTERFYLLETH AND BEASTWARS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Sep 082012
 

Here are a randomly noticed assortment of art, news, new music, and a video I saw and heard yesterday that I thought were well worth sharing.

VASTUM

Vastum are a Bay Area band who began under the name Corpus as a side project of vocalist Dan Butler and guitarist Kyle House from the amazing Acephalix, whose titanic 2012 album Deathless Master I reviewed here. They were eventually joined by guitarist Leila Abdul-Rauf (Hammers of Misfortune, ex-Saros), bass-player Luca Indrio from Acephalix, and drummer  Adam Perry. Their five-song debut, Carnal Law, which was originally released as a demo, made quite the splash in 2011, delivering a filthy, crusty, punk-influenced take on death metal.

Yesterday I happened to see the artwork at the top of this post. It’s one of the latest creations by the uber-talented Paolo Girardi, whose work I follow closely (and have featured at NCS many times before). When he posted it on his Facebook page, it came with this notation: “VASTUM – PATRICIDAL LUST (2012)”.

I’ve seen no other news that Vastum are planning on a new release this year, but that’s sure what Paolo Girardi’s artwork and explanatory note suggest. I really hope that’s what it means. If you’re unfamiliar with Vastum, Carnal Law can be streamed and purchased at Bandcamp (here), and you might want to give it a listen after the jump. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: “CALL OUT THE DEAD” BY BEASTWARS

 Premieres  8 Responses »
Aug 202012
 

If you recognize that amazing artwork above by Nick Keller, it may be because just a few days ago we included it in a feature about his work. It graces the cover of an equally amazing self-titled album by New Zealand’s Beastwars. And today, we’re pleased as all hell to premiere a song from the album entitled “Call Out the Dead”.

Beastwars originally self-released this album in their home country in May 2011, where it generated a ton of buzz and earned the band a nomination (as one of only three finalists) for Best Rock Album in the 2011 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards as well as selection as one of seven finalists (out of 87 submissions) for the country’s 2011 Taite Music Prize. Now the album is finally getting a worldwide release through Destroy/EMI Records — on September 11 in North America and a day earlier elsewhere.

No one song on the album fully represents the album as a whole, which is one of the reasons why it’s such a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. Every song has its own character, yet they’re related to each other through the presence of powerful, earth-moving riffs, enormously catchy hooks, and the completely riveting vocals of Matt Hyde (which are themselves dramatically variable).

The album reminds us of the best work of Mastodon, though more primal and occult in its feel, with helpings of Sabbathian-style doom, Melvins-style sludge, Alabama Thunderpussy-style Southern groove, psychedelia, and a whole shitload of evil. Continue reading »

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